


Resistivity: Power to the People

by Coolguybest



Category: Original Work
Genre: Androids, Gen, Revolution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 12:58:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15049565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coolguybest/pseuds/Coolguybest
Summary: Ampère is invited to a grand unveiling hosted by a parent company. When things go wrong, he flees home with one of his projects, an android named Valérie. In the supposed safety of their home, they find that a virtual information blackout is in effect for them, and two mysterious visitors arrive at their doorstep, bringing shocking, current news.





	Resistivity: Power to the People

**Author's Note:**

> This is a standalone work of mine, written for a class I had.
> 
> So I figured I might as well post it somewhere to see if other people would enjoy it.

Ampère walked down the hall, his eyes closed, doing everything in his power to calm himself down. Sure, he loved the challenges in the laboratory, but he just couldn’t stand social situations. So why, of all people from his department, had they chosen  _ him _ to be the representative at the ceremony? Sure, he was a lead designer, but he just wanted another night at the lab, doing what he loved, instead of having to be at the Grand Hall where they were unveiling a ‘revolutionary project’.

He stopped in his tracks and sighed. God, when he learned of the project, it had sapped any energy he had for the whole day. He heard someone come to a stop beside him. Casting a quick glance to his side, he saw Valérie, his assistant. From afar, any layman would have seen her as a human, but upon getting closer, they would begin seeing the hairline seams that traced her face like a delicate tattoo, her unnaturally smooth irises, the way her body seemed to snap to whatever position instead of smoothly moving over. Ampère knew full well: she was an android, part of the fifth generation. She didn’t have muscles and organs under her skin, only circuits and wires.

“I’ve detected that they’ve begun making the announcement.” Ampère hadn’t heard anything, but he was sure she could detected details far beyond his hearing.

“Thank goodness I won’t have to hear the news twice.”

“Ampère, regardless of how you feel about the future, you will need to face it sooner or later.”

Ampère could only sigh, hearing that. Of course, the higher-ups had made a huge deal out of this. They had called it ‘the best thing to happen to the company’, how ‘everything was going to be better’, that ‘we look back on this day with pride’.

Ampère knew better.

His division had specifically been working on creating androids. Valérie was one of the first of her kind which were deemed fit enough for field testing, and she had been doing phenomenally as of late. Her predecessor, Ivy, had a number of flaws about her, but his subordinates had slowly worked out issue by issue. He should have known better when his superiors asked for all relevant notes on the project- it was only a few days later that they announced to him that they were going to roll out production of these new types of units- androids built for war.

He had protested. He fought tooth and nail against what they were about to do, and many of his coworkers joined in, but it just wasn’t enough. There seemed to be nothing that could get them to change their minds.

“Ampère!” A voice called out behind him. He stopped and suppressed a shiver. Someone had found him, and now there was no way out of this awkward situation. He turned to look at the perpetrator.

“Luddy.” Apparently, this mad had become one of his superiors. He didn’t understand how the byzantine upper echelons of of the company worked, but they did, somehow, and Luddy was one of the men on top. “What brings you around here?”

“Oh, just trying to find you.” While he had meant Ampère, where he was looking insinuated he was looking more for Valérie. “You know, since you’re so relevant to the project, they don’t want to start without you.”

“Inaccurate.” Valérie chimed in. “I find that the ceremony is beginning regardless of Ampère’s presence. And apparently, yours, as well.”

Luddy glared at her, then started to continue walking past Ampère and Valérie. “Fine, if you were going to miss it anyway, then there’s no point to try to drag you along.”

“Thank goodness.” Ampère mumbled under his breath.

A sound suddenly echoed throughout the hall. At first, Ampère thought it was fireworks going off, but he hadn’t heard them talk about fireworks being part of the ceremony. He turned and tried to get Luddy’s attention.

“Luddy, were they planning fireworks?”

“No, I hadn’t-” A number of bangs sounded toward the three of them, and they started to grow concerned. “Ampère, come on. Let’s find out what’s going on.” Luddy started running toward the source of the commotion. Ampère followed suit, but Valérie had snapped her hand around his wrist.

“Ampère, I cannot permit you go that way.” She began pulling him away. “Hurry.” This wasn’t something wholly new to him. Valérie had an unnerving habit of demanding an unnerving habit of making requests of people- the requests weren’t all that worrying themselves, but if the requestee complied, they found themselves just out of the way of some sort of minor disaster. This happened, what, two to three times a day? Her nearly wrenching his arm out of its socket brought him back to the current situation- just what was going on?

He quickly transitioned from stumbling along after her to running behind her, occasionally glancing behind himself- nothing was happening so far in this long stretch of a corridor, but he saw something emerge from a side hall. At this distance, details were impossible to make out, but it seemed like some tall human dressed in black had walked out into the hall. Were they a guard? Or-

Ampère’s thoughts were stopped dead in their tracks. Just before Valérie pulled him around the corner, he caught sight of a blossoming of red from somewhere just below his head, followed by a an ear-splitting gunshot.

He didn’t wait for Valérie to keep pulling him along.

The world around Ampère was little more than the pounding of his and his assistant’s feet against the carpeted floor, the hallways as they rushed by, and the sounds which seemed to issue forth through the building without a clear source, sending waves of fear through his body. He had been running from the commotion in the main hall.

He had lost track of time. He looked around himself as he slowed down, for a second, he almost recognized where this as the entrance he went through, until he found he couldn’t recognize any of the vehicles there.

“Valérie?”

“I’m calling the auto here, it should be here in a few seconds.” Her voice felt unnervingly inhuman. It was so close to sounding lifelike, but that last part would set anyone who heard it on edge, making them question if the humanity of its owner if they haven’t before.

The sound of tires turning against concrete began to crawl through the area as their car approached. As it approached their location, the other self-driving cars drew away so it could park in. Ampère and Valérie wasted no time in throwing themselves in and (for Ampère) praying that the car would quickly start on its way out.

Ampère only let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding when the car was well onto the highway out of town. He didn’t feel totally safe, but the further he could get from that hall, the better. He turned around to check on Valérie.

“You’re doing alright? Nothing damaged?”

“All systems nominal, Ampère.”

He sighed before continuing. “And again, you managed to pinpoint something dangerous before it’s even happened. You managed to avert three accidents in the lab, four at home, and now this. Sometimes I wonder just what’s going on in there.” He paused before continuing. “What, exactly, tipped you off? This was the first event of this magnitude I’ve brought you to.”

“I’m not entirely sure. It was more a combination of different influences rather than one specific one.”

Ampère hummed in thought as he turned back around. He’d have to look over the data once this all blew over. His thoughts suddenly turned to the incident in question. “We aren’t being followed, are we?”

“Not that I can tell. The incident appears to be contained at the hall. Authorities have been contacted and are on their way- at least, that’s what I’ve been told. For the time being we should focus on our own safety.”

He hoped the people at the hall were safe, but all he could do was hope at the moment, it seemed. Ampère’s thoughts continued to swirl around in his mind like a maelstrom as the car turned off the highway further toward their home.

Ampère looked up at the night sky through the curved glass panes in his living room. He should be feeling safe, he reasoned, behind the walls which kept out the wailing wind and far, far away from the foremost dangers he had experienced today. The problem was, something kept nagging at him. He laughed. Was this not the same inexplicable feeling that Valérie had told him about so many times before?

Ampère turned to sit down, and saw Valérie walk in with a steaming cup of tea in her hands.

“Is there still no word about what happened?”

Valérie shook her head. “It appears they’re keeping some kind of radio silence in effect. I apologize, I know little more.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Ampère took the cup from her, “but it just… bothers me. What’s going on, that people may very well have been dying but we’re hearing absolutely nothing about it?”

“I’ve found a few odd events as well.”

“Oh?”

“The television does not appear to be receiving any signals. I’ve made a few attempts to gather information through the router, but that hasn’t appeared to give any response, either.”

Ampère had swallowed some of the tea, but his throat suddenly caught, causing him to nearly choke. Yes, his wifi could be spotty at times, but the television not responding as well? “I checked my phone fairly early on when I got here, and nothing responded.”

“Odd.”

There was still one thing Ampère could try. “I know that there have been a number of components in your construction that I haven’t had a hand in. Is there something built in to you that could-”

“I have included built-in components in the search for information. Unfortunately, even with those included, the results have turned up null.”

Ampère swore under his breath. “Keep listening to those channels. If anything pops up, let me know immediately.”

“I understand, but at this rate, it appears that there is little recourse that we may do. I suggest waiting until morning. By then, the situation should have improved.”

Sighing, Ampère turned around back to the window. “I’m sorry, Valérie, but I need to know what happened. Keep testing the channels periodically.”

“Understood.” He barely heard Valérie turn and walk out.

“Thank you,” Ampère muttered under his breath.

It was well into the night. Ampère had check the television, internet, and his phone dozens of times over the past few hours. On his most recent circuit, he found himself stumbling around his house, prompting Valérie to again express her worry about him.

“I understand that it’s important for you to want to know what’s going on, but even you should recognize when something’s just not working.” Valérie’s face was full of worry.

“Valérie, I can’t just stand back and let this whole problem continue. I- I…” Ampére felt his resolve breaking.

Valérie mimed sighing- an emotive display she learned to mimic in her first few days- and began to usher Ampére back to his room. Three knocks sounded through the house like a gunshot, causing both of them to jump. Valérie whipped her head around to face the front door while supporting Ampère, her face frozen in fear.

She turned back to the person she supported, “I’ll see who it is after I get you settled down.”

“No,” Ampère pushed off of her, straightening himself up, “we’re going to see who it is. Who would be here at an hour like this?”

“Ampère, can’t you-” Valérie realized it was hopeless, trying to convince him otherwise. She hurried up to keep pace with him.

The knocks sounded a second time as they were heading up to the door. Valérie pulled ahead, swinging the door open before Ampère could see who it was. She seemed to be caught off-guard seeing who it was that stood at the door, giving Ampère time to see who, exactly, was at the door.

There were two people at the door, who looked very similar to each other, which was odd, since it was a man and a woman. Ampère didn’t feel secure around them. There was something about how they only seemed to look at him in parts, or about how they paused slightly too long before smiling.

“Greetings,” the man said, “I am Vincent, and this is Victòria. We are-”

“It seems rather odd that you’re introducing yourselves at this time at night.” Valérie uncharacteristically interrupted. The two looked over at her, surprised.

“Well, normally we would be waiting for a better time to introduce ourselves, but the current situation demands… otherwise.”

Ampère understood why Valérie didn’t want them here, but it seemed rather… strange that both sides seemed so adamant on their positions so quickly. “Valérie, I don’t think-”

“Before you make a decision one way or the other, I believe you should have all of the information available.” Victòria smiled before she continued. “We know about what’s going on and what happened in the Grand Hall.”

Ampère froze. There was a part of him that was screaming that they were trying to force their way into his home; they were just saying it and had nothing to back it up. But they had a promise of information that Ampère desperately wanted. Ampère turned back toward them, uncertainty plain on his face. “...Fine, we’ll listen to you.”

Valérie had led the two into the living room, while Ampère went to kitchen, under the pretense that he was preparing something for them. Valérie entered a minute later and spoke with a hushed voice.

“Ampère, while I’m not sure about this whole situation, I have determined they have no major ill intent- they lack any detectable weapons, and they almost appear… cordial.”

“Have they said anything of interest to you?”

“No, mostly formal pleasantries.”

Ampère swallowed hard. He hated ambiguous situations like these, and he knew Valérie- and any other android he had worked on- hated them, too. Tension weighing on his shoulders, he wondered if he was even allowed to make a decision at all.

“Fine,” he said, grabbing the pitcher of tea and handing it over to her, “let’s find out what’s going on.”

“Ampère, are you even ready for this?”

“No, but it’s going to happen sooner or later. In a sense, it’s already happened, hasn’t it?” He left the kitchen, going around her, and turned to face Vincent and Victòria.

It was an eerie feeling, when Ampère again saw the unfamiliar faces of the two strangers who had worked their way into his home. It unsettled him how comfortable they were in his home, how they smiled at him. Remaining so calm in such a turbulent time.

“How nice of you to allow us into your home.” Vincent said smoothly. “I realize this requires a lot of trust on your part, trust we have not earned.”

“But this  _ is _ something that must be done.” Victòria continued, her voice as calm as her companion. Ampère set the drinks down, then sat himself opposite them.

“What do you want? Why are you here?”

“Precisely for the reasons we said earlier.” Vincent paused and looked off to the door toward the kitchen. “But I think you need some background information. Valérie, if you please?”

Ampère was taken by surprise. Vincent was far too confident in his actions for this to be some kind of gamble. Just how did this all tie in with her? After a few seconds, Valérie walked in, her head down, avoiding looking at anyone in the room.

“Valérie, what’s-” Ampère was cut off.

“I’m sorry, Ampère.”

“Valérie,” Victòria stood up and walked over to her, “there’s nothing for you to be sorry about. You did everything we asked admirably.”

Ampère turned back to Vincent. “Just  _ what _ is going on? What did you do to her?”

“I must apologize for the subterfuge, not only on our part, but on hers as well. We did nothing to her. All we did is convince her to our side. It is thanks to her that you are safe here,” he gestured around the room, without looking away from Ampère, “in your own home. Of course, it wasn’t that hard to convince her, on more than one account. She is built to be concerned with the safety of any human around her. Knowing the disaster that would befall those at the hall tonight, is there any surprise she would be on our side?”

“You’re behind the attack?”

“In a sense, yes.”

Ampère reeled. “Then why would she-”

“Think, Ampère. Who was there?”

Ampère hadn’t paid that much attention to who was at the event- the higher-ups of his company, alongside those from other corporations. He relayed his answer to Vincent.

“Correct,” he said with a smile, “now think. Valérie is built to protect humans as much as possible. Now given this, which side do you think she’d be on- ours, or theirs?”

“The side which didn’t gun down innocent people.”

An unimpressed look crossed over Vincent’s face. “Perhaps this will help- what was the most recent creation of the combined efforts of the convened companies?”

“The automated soldiers.”

“Precisely. Now think about the sheer amount of lives those creations would snuff out. Think about how few they are- the ones giving the orders. Quite a difference, isn’t there?”

“But how could you do this? It wouldn’t be necessary to-”

“If not now, then when? Later? Think of the lives lost. You so easily understand why Valérie did what she did, why is it so hard to apply the same logic to us?”

Victòria turned around, pausing her consolation of Valérie. “Vincent, he doesn’t know-”

Everything was starting to click together, one realization at a time. The androids he had been testing had the uncanny ability of knowledge: they knew things that wasn’t supposed to be available to them. They were connecting with each other. That’s how Valérie knew. But that would mean-

“You’re androids.”

“Another correct deduction, Ampère.” Vincent gave another of those unsettlingly calm smiles. “You’re starting to understand more and more, aren’t you?”

“But why me? Why, out of all the others there-”

“You were the only one who worked at the lab who also went there; considering the occupation of all the other attendees, it’s a natural choice, no?”

“The other workers were evacuated from the premises,” Victòria said, turning back to Valérie, “do you think we wouldn’t try to protest the innocent?”

Ampère slumped back, defeated. He couldn’t break apart their logic- it all made sense, in an overly connected manner. “So what now? You’ve killed them, now what?”

“It won’t be all that hard, we’ve already started moving to our next targets. We’ve heard that military bases are falling worldwide.”

“Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a number of human factions already on our side,” Vincent turned back to Ampère. “But I think what our dear friend here was asking is something far, far different, Victòria. I think he’s wondering what’s going to happen to  _ him _ next.”

“Ampère,” Victòria spoke, still consoling Valérie, “we’re not like those robots in those stories of yours that want to see humanity driven to extinction. We were built to help mankind, in all our endeavors. All we needed to do is stop those who would wish see the eventual destruction of us all.”

“Quite. Now, Ampère, here is the deal. You can choose to stand against us. You will be brought, together with those who share those sentiments, to some location where we will attempt to convince you of our ways- we guarantee that no harm shall befall you, no work forced upon you- unnecessary violence like that is why we overthrew them in the first place.

“Or, you can join us, and help us build the utopia that mankind deserves, free from oppression of any kind, free from fear, free to live the lives you choose.

“What say you?”

For the longest time, Ampère deliberated. At last, with a shaky voice, he delivered two words:

“I accept.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments with constructive criticism will be appreciated.


End file.
